CINEMA: Waz

Dark by nature, but also extremely dark on screen, Waz is a psycho killer/thriller along the lines of Se7en, but without the cleverness or intelligent dialogue. Stellan Skarsgard takes the role of the world-weary detective Argo, getting a rookie (Melissa George) as his new partner as they investigate a series of extremely grisly murders.

Each victim is found with the WAZ carved into their body and with burns to their fingers, but why are they being killed and, most importantly, by whom? As the bodycount goes up and the cops investigate further, they find themselves on a track that leads them closer to home than is comfortable.

Unfortunately, the script quite literally loses the plot halfway through the film, so what could have been an intriguing scenario falls to pieces by the denouement. There are some nice performances from the supporting cast members Tom Hardy, Paul Kaye and Selma Blair, but their efforts can’t hold together a story with a huge basic flaw – it’s just not credible. And because it doesn’t convince, it doesn’t chill your blood in the way it should and Se7en did.     Dee Pilgrim